


Covered in the Colors

by Carmenlire



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Introspection, M/M, True Love, hints at immortal alec, soft boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 17:15:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15005573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmenlire/pseuds/Carmenlire
Summary: Magnus is idly tracing shapes over Alec’s heart. His head is a comfortable weight on Alec’s chest and Alec almost thinks the crick in his neck come morning would be worth it if he didn’t have to move in a few minutes.In his soft voice, as if he was afraid to disturb this peace that’s wrapped around them this evening, Magnus had asked Alec his favorite color and Alec doesn’t know what to say.Alec has trouble deciding on his favorite color.





	Covered in the Colors

Alec never thought too much about those questions everyone knows the answer to. What’s your favorite food, favorite animal, favorite vacation.

What’s your favorite color.

He was a shadowhunter. He didn’t have time for frivolity. There was no time between missions and research and generally making sure that his world didn’t implode to think about what made Alec _Alec_. He knew he was rude and blunt. He knew he loved his family to distraction.

He knew he was gay and that meant his story would never have a happy ending.

But then he met Magnus and his world changed from monotonous grey to a veritable kaleidoscope of colors.

Magnus lit him up from the inside and made his world so much more vivid and warm and worth it.

Magnus made him want to keep fighting, to keep putting his foot forward into the unknown and unknowable.

Magnus lets Alec take time for himself. Now, Alec had a person that made those double-- or triple-- shifts at the Institute a drag. He had someplace to go that wasn’t his workplace. Magnus was home for him in a way he’d never let himself have.

Which brought him to his current predicament. He’s enjoying a rare night off at the loft. It’s raining outside, pouring down in sheets with the occasional soft rumble of thunder to spice things up. They’re on the couch, empty wine glasses on the low coffee table in front of them, warm and drowsy and content.

Alec is laying on the couch, Magnus curled up against his side, head over Alec’s chest.

It’s going towards eleven and Alec knows that he has to move to the bed soon-- his work day starts early as Head of the Institute and he can admit he’s a bit of a grump without enough sleep.

He’s too comfortable to move, though, holding Magnus as their conversation builds and wanes.

Magnus is asking random questions that should require no thought. They’ve been together for over a year now and Alec’s lived more in that time than the entire twenty three years prior.

Magnus knows most of the answers to these questions, but seems to be in a bit of a playful mood-- who knows, maybe he’s playing a game with himself and earns a point for each answer he already knew.

Favorite food? A double bacon cheeseburger from this diner in the Lower East Side.

Favorite animal? Alec is a surprising softie for all animals, but the last time he went to the zoo he almost had a coronary over the giraffes.

Favorite vacation? Simple: anywhere as long as Magnus is at his side (though he couldn’t deny the allure of a cottage in a forest).

That’s the thing. Everyone knows that Alec is gone for Magnus. Hopelessly. Completely. Irrevocably. Alec, himself, doesn’t make any great secret of it-- can’t hide the fondness in his eyes, the heat in his cheeks, the involuntary smile that takes over his face anytime he sees his boyfriend.

So Izzy and Maia and Cat can roll their eyes when he says he doesn’t really mind where he eats as long as he gets to look across the table at Magnus. He doesn’t care where the other side of the portal leads to as long as he’s in Magnus’s arms. So much of his life seems to hinge on Magnus that it’d be pathetic if Magnus didn’t feel the same way.

Which brings him to now.

Magnus is idly tracing shapes over Alec’s heart. His head is a comfortable weight on Alec’s chest and Alec almost thinks the crick in his neck come morning would be worth it if he didn’t have to move in a few minutes.

In his soft voice, as if he was afraid to disturb this peace that’s wrapped around them this evening, Magnus had asked Alec his favorite color and Alec doesn’t know what to say.

The first thing that pops into his head is _red_. It’s the vision that flashes through his mind, Magnus with angry highlights and that wine-red jacket striding down the aisle to keep Alec from making the biggest mistake of both their lives. He will always hold an inordinate fondness for that outfit when Magnus had looked both his most impenetrable and vulnerable. Red will always mean hope and salvation.

But in the next instant, Alec thinks _blue_. Nothing so dark and sad as cobalt or midnight. Nothing as pedestrian as navy. No, Alec pictures wispy tendrils of azure, warm and inviting. Welcoming. It’s a fact of his life that Alec thinks Magnus’s magic is both comforting and hot as hell. He’s seen it-- _felt_ it-- a hundred times and he’s left breathless and more in love every time. Blue means Magnus.

It’s Magnus’s loving heart when he heals a friend; it’s his playful side when used in bed. It’s Magnus’s soul reaching out to Alec, letting him know that he always has a place with the High Warlock of Brooklyn.

He’ll never understand it, but it’s almost as if the magic has a life of its own when it comes to him. Without thinking, Magnus has healed Alec after a grueling mission or beckoned him closer during heated moments.

Alec knows that the acceptance of Magnus’s magic means that he’s loved on a molecular level.

It’s always lovely to know he’s loved in kind.

Ultimately, though, Alec can’t deny that there’s only one answer to that question. It’s such an elementary question and Magnus probably thinks Alec has already fallen asleep, with how long he’s taking to answer.

After a moment or two, there’s no denying that _citrine_ is his favorite color in the universe.

Not yellow, not gold, not one of the thousand shades between. 

Citrine is his absolute favorite color.

It’s the exact shade of Magnus’s eyes. His real eyes, not the glamour, though of course Alec’s crazy for those, too.

No, whenever Alec thinks of this particular shade, he’s reminded of the man he loves, the man he’ll love forever and a day.

From that very first moment Magnus revealed his warlock mark, Alec’s been smitten. That time, unsuspecting and confused, it had symbolized Magnus letting Alec in, letting him see the real man behind the urbane and sophisticated facade. It had meant trust and vulnerability that made Alec want to wrap Magnus in his arms and never let go.

He’s seen Magnus’s real eyes dozens of times by now. Each night and every morning, he’s treated to the site of his boyfriend, soft and rumpled and achingly open, face bare and eyes unglamoured.

It means more than he’ll ever be able to express that Magnus lets him see him like that. Whenever he looks into Magnus’s eyes, whether it’s half-asleep, over french toast, or when they’re so wrapped up in each other it’s impossible to know where one ends and the other begins, Alec feels an overwhelming love, a desperate desire to hold on for as long as he’s able.

Citrine means love and home and the future.

Alec knows in his soul that he would follow Magnus to the ends of the earth. It could mean giving up his runes or his life-- for Magnus, no price would be too much. 

If he has his way, one day he’ll have to let go of his family for an eternal, infinite life with Magnus.

While it will be heartbreaking and so incredibly difficult, he knows he’ll do it without regret or hesitation.

Alec’s favorite color is indelibly linked to Magnus and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> Catch me on tumblr @carmenlire


End file.
